1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to conveying apparatus and, more particularly, is directed to conveying apparatus used in connection with mobile articulated conveyors and their attendant stationary conveyors for conveying mined material within a mine.
2. Description of the Invention Background
In the materials mining industry, especially in the underground mining of coal or the like, belt conveyors are used to transport the mined ore out of the mine. In particular, during the early stages of mine development, main haulageways are initially developed within the mine to accommodate stationary main belt conveyors that are used to transfer the mined ore from the mine. As the mine development progresses, roadways are branched off from these main haulageways to lesser roadways and finally to rooms which are generated specificially to retrieve the remaining coal or ore. Although the mine layout and development is somewhat dictated by the configuration of the particular seam, the roadways are typically developed perpendicular to the main haulageway.
As the network of lesser roadways is developed, separate stationary conveyors, known as panel conveyors, are installed therein to convey the mined ore to the main conveyor located in the main haulageway. Typically, those panel conveyors consist of short sections of conveyors that can be connected together to expand the conveyor network as needed.
In a preferred practice, a mobile conveyor may be used to convey the mined ore directly from the mining machine to the panel conveyors or to the main conveyor itself. Mobile articulated conveyors of the types disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,031,997 and 4,852,724, can move under self-propulsion along mine roadways and around corners while receiving the mined ore directly from the mining machine and discharging it onto the main conveyor or one of the attending panel conveyors. Mobile articulated conveyors generally employ two different methods of discharging the mined ore onto an attending stationary conveyor. More specifically, the mobile articulated conveyor may be adapted to tram onto a track mounted directly above the stationary conveyor or, in the alternative, may be adapted to run beside the stationary conveyor by employing a "bridge" conveyor to transfer the ore from the discharge end of the mobile articulated conveyor to the attending section of stationary conveyor. The choice between such methods depends primarily on the mine height, mining width available, and preference of the mining engineer.
The present invention relates to the latter method of discharge. In particular, a problem that exists with the latter discharge method is that of effecting a transition from discharging particulate matter from the bridge conveyor onto the panel conveyor from a previous discharge position onto the stationary main conveyor. Specifically, because the discharge end of the bridge conveyor rides upon guide means attached to the stationary conveyor and because the discharge end of the mobile articulated conveyor is also partially supported and guided by the stationary conveyor, a certain length of the discharge end of the articulated conveyor is constrained to remain parallel with the stationary conveyor. Therefore, the length that can be mined away from the stationary conveyor will always be shorter than the combined length of mobile articulated conveyor and the miner. As such, the aforementioned length of the articulated conveyor cannot be disconnected from the stationary conveyor because the length of the mobile articulated conveyor cannot be accommodated within the length of tunnel that can be mined while being so constrained.
Further, because the mobile conveyor's discharge follows a path which is not at a 90 degree angle, but rather "cuts the corner" on a fixed radius between the main and panel conveyor belts, at the juncture between the belts, there is no means provided for receiving the bridge conveyor's discharge which does not follow a 90 degree path in the horizontal plane. Accordingly, one practice which is employed is to allow the miner to proceed in advance of the flexible conveyor and, instead, use shuttle cars to convey mined materials from an advance area sufficient to allow the length of the articulated conveyor to be accommodated. However, in that method an additional piece of expensive machinery is needed.
Thus, the need exists for an auxiliary conveying system that can be utilized in conjunction with stationary conveyors to enable a mining machine with its attendant mobile articulated conveyor to allow continuous mine development without the need for additional mining machinery.